HELP! I want to save them.

NewGardenTalent · Wed May 06, 2015 6:43 am

Help!

My beautiful expensive evergreens are dying. I am not sure if two are unsalvageable. I want to save the other two that are starting to turn brown. I'm not sure if it's not enough sun, too much water, to little water, disease, too much fertilizer or too little fertilizer ect.. Can anyone give me advice on how to save them? Should I cut back on the dead branches in order for the other branches to get the energy? How do I know if a shrub is beyond saving?

Thanks for your help.

rainbowgardener · Wed May 06, 2015 8:49 am

sorry, but at least the two middle ones are beyond saving. Cedars tend to die from the inside out. By the time they show significant browning, they are goners.

They are only green on the outside. Inside that the branches are brown and hardened. If you cut back in to that area, it will never regenerate. So if you cut out dead areas, you will always have a hole there.

All except the last one are way too close to the house, which may also mean they were too shaded. They don't like too much hot afternoon sun (depending on where you are, they would need more protection in TX than in cloudy OH). but they do like a lot of light. Too shaded may also mean that the soil stays too damp. In sun, soil dries out more. Cedars like to be very well drained. If I had to guess, I might think they got root rot, which is a fungal disease they are prone to in conditions of over-watering or lack of drainage, soil that stays too damp. (But I'm no expert and that is partly guess-- see what others think).

rainbowgardener · Wed May 06, 2015 2:01 pm

You can confirm the root rot diagnosis (or disconfirm it!

), because you will be digging the two worst ones out. (If they are diseased, whether root rot or some other disease, you need to get them out of there to try to keep it from spreading to the other two.) Did them out with the root ball and then shake the dirt off to inspect the roots. If they are brown, mushy, smelly, that is root rot. If they are firm and white and not odiferous, the roots are healthy and something else killed them.